No Time Like the Past
by crematosis
Summary: Albel has always wanted kids...or maybe not. But when he and Fayt are visited by people from their past, will Albel be able to learn from his past and possibly change his future? Or will a child be able to outsmart him?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: And I'm back….with another story. XD Surprise, surprise. I just noticed that Star Ocean doesn't have very many stories compared to some anime shows. Well…that's all going to change when I get done with all he stories I've planned...if I ever get through them all. XD

Disclaimer: Albel and Fayt should be plushified so they could rule the world with their awesome cuteness! But alas, even if they were plushies…I wouldn't get any money from it.

It was another average day of routine training for Fayt. There wasn't much to do except prepare for the upcoming battle. The boredom of doing the same thing every day was beginning to wear on Fayt, but he knew it was probably a good idea to keep training, even if it was monotonous. Besides, Albel had already threatened to cut Sophia's throat out for asking for a day off and Fayt didn't want to become the next victim of Albel's wrath.

Fayt was so busy thinking about what Albel would do to him if he took a break for an hour while he was walking towards his training spot that he nearly crashed into a little boy standing out in the open field.

"Watch where you're going, stupid," the boy growled rudely, his hands on his hips.

Fayt came to his senses quickly and looked down at the angry eight year old standing in front of him. "Sorry, little one," Fayt said apologetically. "You're right; I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Don't talk down to me slime," the boy snapped. "I'm not just some brat."

Fayt raised an eyebrow and glanced at the dagger the boy had drawn, which was like a sword to him because of his small stature. "Are you sure you know how to use that?"

"Silence," snarled the boy. He waved the blade menacingly and stomped a boot clad foot. "I'm not as useless as you are."

Fayt sighed heavily. "What's your problem, kid?"

"I told you I'm not a kid!" the boy shrieked. He drew himself up importantly. "My father is a brigade captain and one day I'll take his place."

Fayt blinked and scrutinized the child more closely. Shoulder-length straight black hair, red eyes flashing with anger, delicate features, a baggy sleeveless purple shirt, loose purple shorts that were tied on to the child's thin frame with a thick beige belt, and knee-high purple boots that looked a little too tight. The kid managed to be adorable and look fearsome at the same time. Just like a mini version of a certain someone…

"Albel," Fayt whispered, his eyes involuntarily falling to the boy's arm, but luckily it seemed that the boy hadn't gone through the same horror Albel had.

"Yes," the boy said, sounding exasperated. He rolled his eyes at Fayt with a look that clearly said "Took you long enough."

Fayt sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had such a…powerful father."

"That's because you're an idiot," the boy retorted. "Now take me to my father before I decide to cut off your feet!" he screamed.

"Alright, alright," Fayt said tiredly. "I'll take you back to Airyglyph."

The boy proved himself to be the spitting image of Albel over and over again. He wouldn't let Fayt hold his hand or carry him. He insisted on having Fayt walk directly in front of him as a guide. If Fayt walked too slowly for the child's taste, he would find himself subjected to many death threats if he didn't hurry up and the tip of the knife pressed against his back.

After a few hours, they reached the outskirts of Airyglyph. "Finally," the boy muttered irritably. "It was too hot in that stupid place." He fished out a pair of purple fingerless gloves out of his pockets and slipped one on each arm.

Fayt tried to conceal his annoyance. "Can you make it to Airyglyph on your own from here?"

The boy stomped his foot. "I don't care about this wretched place! Take me to my father."

Fayt sighed. "I have no idea where he is. He isn't accountable to anyone about where he goes. But maybe if you wait for him, you can talk to him when he comes back."

The boy glared at Fayt wrathfully. "He has to be here somewhere! Find him or I'll kill you!"

Fayt sighed heavily. "Like father, like son."

"Do it now!" the child screeched. "If my father doesn't kill you for being dense, I sure will."

"Yes, young Lord Nox," Fayt said wearily, with a mocking bow. "I'll go find him."

Fayt had walked down only one or two streets when he ran into Nel exiting a shop.

"Hey, Nel, have you see Albel anywhere?"

Nel shrugged and shifted her packages to another arm. "He's probably off training somewhere."

Fayt groaned. "Just great. I'll have to go hunt him down."

Nel blinked. "Why? Do you have to talk to him about something?"

Fayt gave her a wry smile. "I suppose you could say that. Err…Nel, did Albel ever tell you he had a son?"

Nel looked surprised. "A son? How could that be possible? Albel wouldn't let a woman get close enough to him for that to happen."

Fayt shrugged. "Well, it certainly looks that way to me. Come with me and I'll show you."

The boy crossed his arms over his chest angrily as Nel walked up to him. "Oh great, another idiot," the boy growled.

"This is Nel," Fayt said quietly. "She's an Aquarian."

The boy spat. "What is she doing in Airyglyph? It's not her country. Get her out!"

"Well, you see, Airyglyph and Aquaria have made an alliance right now or something like that."

"What!" The boy exclaimed. "When did this foolishness happen?"

Nel rolled her eyes. "Yes, just like his father. If you would ask him, the war would still be going on."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," the boy growled. "My father will slice off your heads and feed them to poisonous reptiles."

"The next time I see your wicked father, I'll tell him not to teach you all his threat until you're older," Nel said, sounding amused.

"Shut up," the boy growled. "When I'm captain of the dragon brigade, I shall have you executed and then your carcasses will be eaten by dragons."

Fayt looked puzzled. "But your father is captain of the black brigade."

"Who gave you that idea?" said the child crossly.

"This is bizarre," Nel muttered. "You talk like Albel and look like Albel."

"Of course I do," the child said indignantly.

"But you're not his son," Fayt muttered.

"Whose son?" demanded the boy.

"Albel's."

"That's crazy! What kind of weirdos are you anyway?"

"If you're not his son, then whose son are you?"

The boy stared at Nel calmly. "My father is Glou Nox, captain of the dragon brigade."

Fayt jerked back. "Abel? You're Albel?"

"I already told you before!" said the miniature Albel angrily.

"Oh no this is bad," Fayt muttered. "Albel's been turned into a child."

"What on earth are you talking about, fool?" said a familiar voice.

Fayt froze and turned slowly around to see Albel scowling at him, one hand on the hilt of his katana.

"Well? Answer me, fool! What's going on?"

Fayt looked from the younger Albel to the adult Albel. "I'm not sure anymore," he confessed.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I finally got around to updating this again. x-x I feel like such a loser. Oh well…summer vacation means more time to work.

Disclaimer: Er…welll, I wish I own Albel. I kinda own little Albel. Kind of.

"So I take it nobody has a clue what's going on?' Albel sneered. He glanced at the mini version of himself. "Alright, brat. Speak up. Tell me what's going on or have you been around those fools too long and you're just as dense as they are?"

Albel looked surprised as the child started kicking at him. "What gives you the right to be calling me a brat? You're a pathetic loser, that's what you are."

Albel looked annoyed as the kid continued to kick at him with no results. "You stupidity is astounding, brat. Now, go find something better to do than waste my time."

"You can't order me around," the little Albel growled.

"Oh, really, brat? Then I suppose I'll have to teach you a lesson." Albel unsheathed his katana.

Fayt jumped in before Albel could kill his miniature self and perhaps destroy the world as they knew it. "Err, Albel," he began.

"What do you want?" two irritated voices answered at once.

Albel rounded on his miniature. "I am tired of this game. Go back home now or your parents will find your body in the morning."

"Please don't kill him," Fayt pleased. "He's-"

"He's what?" Albel interrupted. "Someone famous, perhaps/ bah, all those rich fools…I have to be nice to them despite their ignorance, just for the sake of the kingdom." He rolled his eyes.

"My father is a brigade captain, so watch your tongue," the little Albel snapped.

"Oh really?" Albel purred. "I am a brigade captain as well, little brat. And which brigade is your father captain over?"

"The Dragon Brigade," little Albel said importantly. 'I will take his place when I get older."

Albel's eyes flashed with anger. His lips curved into a wicked grin. "Oh, so you're Vox's little one. I'll send you to hell to meet him."

Fayt jumped in and countered the blow from Albel's katana with his own sword. "Don't kill him!" Fayt looked desperately at the child. "Please, explain to him before he tries to kill you again."

The child rolled his eyes. "My father is Glou Nox, captain of the Dragon brigade."

Albel dropped his katana. "That's impossible, brat. Glou Nox is dead. He's not the captain of the Dragon Brigade anymore."

"What?" the child screeched. "I bet you killed him, you pathetic coward." He started kicking at Albel's shins again.

A slight flicker of pain crossed Albel's eyes before he grabbed the child by the back of the arm and yanked him away. "Now, don't even pretend to be Glou Nox's son. He died before you were born, brat."

"I am too his son," little Albel glared. "I am Albel Nox, Glou Nox's only son."

"You are not Albel," Albel growled. "I don't know who gave you the idea you can pretend to be me, but it's ridiculous."

The child stomped a foot. "I'm Albel Nox," he insisted, rattling off Albel's birth month, day, and year.

Albel's eyes narrowed. "That is not possible. You don't know what year it is, do you? You should grown-up, not still a child. Don't steal my birth date." He frowned and looked the child over. "And don't steal my clothes either. They don't suit you."

The child growled and drew his dagger. 'We will settle this once and for all over who is pretending."

"oh, will we?" Albel asked dangerously, wielding his katana.

Fayt jumped in again. "Come on. You're both Albel. One from the past and one from the present. Now, don't kill each other off or you'll have no past and no future."

"Bah, that makes as much sense as you claim that you're from a different planet,' Albel scoffed, eyeing Fayt critically. "Aliens, bah."

However, the child looked thrilled. "You, I demand that you take me to see your planet," he said sternly.

Fayt snickered. "I see where you learned your manners. You still have the same way of dealing with people, don't you?"

Albel scowled. "He's certainly not me. I was never that stupid at that age. Must be a different me. Because, why would we both be in the same time? Wouldn't that mess up something?"

"Different dimensions as well as planets," Fayt mused. "Interesting." He beamed. "I'll have to talk it over with Maria later. She's done lots more traveling than I have."

"Oh, don't go bringing her into this," Albel grumbled.

"Don't ignore me, take me to your planet now!" the child screeched.

"Hold on, I'm talking to-" Fayt began.

The boy pinched Fayt's arm. "You're talking to me, not him. Now do it."

"Ouch," Fayt muttered, rubbing the spot on his arm. He looked at Albel helplessly. "Please, control yourself."

"Okay, brat," Albel growled. "You're going to get out of the way and not cause us any more trouble. Maybe being locked in our room at the inn will teach you a lesson."

He scooped up the boy, still kicking and screaming, tossed him over his shoulder and headed for the inn.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Good grief…this is a hard and rather boring chapter to write…I'm terrible at explaining the whole thing about time travel theories so that Albel can understand them and you can too. Just so you know…I got my two theories from the Time machine and back to the Future…if that helps to clarify things.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything…except cute little Albel. XD

After the younger Albel was securely locked up in a room at the inn, Fayt went down the hall to talk to Maria using the communicator. Albel stood outside the room's door, rolling his eyes as the child cursed and banged on the door loudly.

Albel eyed Fayt wearily as he returned. 'Well?"

Fayt sighed heavily. "I got both Maria and Mirage to weigh in on the situation. I can't make heads or tails out of it. I don't know what to think."

"What did they say?" Albel demanded.

"They disagree with each other almost completely," Fayt said helplessly. "I don't know who to believe."

"That should be relatively simple," Albel retorted. "Choose the wench that is the most reliable and get on with it."

Fayt hesitated, a stricken look on his face.

'Of course," Albel muttered sarcastically. "You trust both of them equally and don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by choosing someone over them. Bah. All that emotional rubbish. Alright, let me hear their ideas and I'll decide what's the most believable."

Fayt settled onto the floor in front of the door next to Albel, who reluctantly sat down as well. "Maria believes that the kid can't possible be you, because if that were so, it would interrupt the fabric of the space-time continuum."

"What?" Albel growled.

"it means you'd cease to exist," Fayt said gently. "If the child came to our time from the past, he'd see an alternate present, without you. It'd be like you vanished at whatever age the child is and he would be you."

"So if that brat was actually me from the past, I'd have to vanish in the present so he couldn't see me?"

"No, the you now would have never existed. You would have never grown up. There can't be two of you existing at the same time."

"That doesn't make sense,' Albel growled.

Fayt sighed patiently. "If the you as a child left his time to come to ours, there would be no young Albel left in his time…and if there is no young Albel, there can be no adult Albel. So, when he comes to our time, he finds a changed time, what our world would be like if you had never lived past nine years old or so. But when he goes back to his own time, he'll be able to grow up and you'll exist again."

"Well, obviously I exist now," Albel said acidly.

"Yes," Fayt said cautiously. "So that brings us to Mirage's theory. She believes it's possible for a pas you to travel through time and be able to see the present you, but any future technology or people the child sees will affect your past, so we've got to be careful or our whole world will change."

Albel scowled. "What difference would it make if that brat sees a little bit from the future? He doesn't seem all that changed."

"Albel, what if your younger self went back to the past believing in aliens and time travel?' Fayt asked sternly. "They might completely discredit you and prevent you from becoming a soldier. What would have happened if you weren't taking part in the war?"

"What would have happened if I never…" Albel whispered, glancing down contemplatively at his mechanical arm.

"No," Fayt said firmly. "We are not trying to change the past. Who knows what it'll do? We might think it was just an innocent little change and it could all end in calamity."

"Nothing is changed so far," Albel said irritably. "All this worry over nothing."

"Maybe the change isn't noticeable, or maybe we don't know things have changed because we've changed too."

"Or maybe things won't changed until the brat gets back to his own time," Albel snapped.

"Time is always changing…unless," Fayt stopped and smiled suddenly. "We combine the two theories. Little Albel gets taken from his time and time stops so you can exist as an adult and he doesn't exist in his time, at the moment. Brilliant, Albel!"

Albel frowned and muttered mutinously, not used to receiving so much praise. "Well, if you've settled whether he exists, let's move onto how he got here and how to send him back."

Fayt hesitated, his enthusiasm fading. "Maria and Mirage both said you'd need some kind of time machine to travel through time, but they don't think such things exist. At least they agreed on that point."

"Wonderful," Albel muttered savagely. "And even if they exist, we don't have one."

Fayt looked hurt. "Don't be angry at me. I didn't bring him here."

"I know you didn't fool. But none of you maggots with all your wonderful technology knows how to send a snotty brat home."

Fayt sighed. "I'm afraid not. We'll just have to deal with him for now."

"I can hear you thickheads babbling on about me out there," the child shrieked.

Fayt sighed, suddenly struck by how archaic Albel's speech used to be until he met Fayt and his group.

"You be quiet in there or I'll let you starve," Albel shouted through the door.

The child let out a huge string of curses that Albel seemed to recognize. He laughed. "Is that the best you can do, brat?"

The young Albel, enraged by his adult's taunts started screaming more curse words at Albel that was interrupted by a loud crashing sound like furniture being overturned.

"If you destroy that room, I'll take ever little scratch out on you miserable little body,' Albel bellowed.

"It wasn't my fault," the child protested. "It was him."

Albel and Fayt looked at each other. "I assure you I never had imaginary friends," Albel spat.

"He's not imaginary," the child howled. "He's' right here."

"There's' no one in that room except you."

"Yes there is! He's right here. He's an alien. He fell out of the sky and knocked over the table."

'Don't make excuses for your handiwork, brat," Albel growled.

"I'm not, get in here and see for yourself, or are you too much of a coward?' little Albel snapped.

A small cry that sounded nothing like the younger version of Albel issued form the room. "See, that was him," little Albel said triumphantly.

"Maybe we better have a look," Fayt said quietly.

"Don't believe all his rubbish," Albel snorted. "He just wants to get out of there."

"But what if he's telling the truth? Besides, you can always catch him again, right?"

"Of course I can catch that miserable excuse for a brat, but-"

"Good, then it's settled," Fayt said briskly. "You go in and check up on him and catch him if he tries to sneak out."

"Alright," Albel groused. "Move aside, brat," he called in through the door. "I'm coming in."

Albel opened the door just widely enough for him to squeeze through, entered the room and closed the door behind him so his younger self wouldn't run out.

There was absolute silence for a few minutes and Fayt was starting to get worried. Finally, Albel said, "Fayt, you better come have a look."

The quiet way in which Albel said it unnerved Fayt. He quickly opened the door. Little Albel was lounging on the bed with a bored look on his face. Albel was standing in the middle of the room, staring in shock at a small figure huddled on the floor. He was still sniffling because of the blow little Albel had dealt him earlier and the adult Albel's appearance made him even more upset.

Fayt walked closer and the child stared up at him, innocent green eyes look slightly hopeful.

"Good lord," Fayt whispered. "It's me."


End file.
